Closure's Hanging Tree
by Forever-Tangled
Summary: An alternate ending to 3x09, "Closure". DON'T read if you haven't watched it. I know, it's an ending even worse than the one we already got, but I had to. Crossed over with "The Hanging Tree" from The Hunger Games. Rated a definite T, but just a one-shot. Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my laptop and ideas. And all these feels.


**A/N: If you have yet to see AoS S3, E9, don't read this. Of course, this is just an alternate ending to** ** _The Hunger Games_** **' "** ** _The Hanging Tree_** **", but I digress. I just have a lot of feels and wanted to channel that into writing.  
This is set at the end of 3x09, "Closure", right when the portal is opened. **

_**LEO FITZ**_ _  
Are you, are you  
Coming to the tree  
Where a dead man called out  
For his love to flee  
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be  
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree_

"Jemma, run. I don't want them to hurt you. I don't trust 'em, I'm afraid they'll hurt you once I'm gone," I murmured. Her head was on my shoulder, and I just wanted to hold her and get her to safety. But I was doing this in the hopes of securing what little safety she might have.  
"No," was her predictable response, her English accent tinted with tears. "Don't, Fitz."  
She knew, then. I wasn't alluding to them separating us again. I was going into the portal. Ward had made me promise.  
"I love you, Jemma. I always have and"-I was broken off by Ward grabbing my arm. If I could shove him into the portal, take out the others standing about...but then that Inhuman was nearly impossible to escape...I swallowed and yanked away from Ward. "You weren't annoying at the Academy. I thought you were really sweet a-a-and I just..couldn't-"  
"I told you your time was up with Simmons," Ward said. I wanted to punch him in his perfect teeth, but...I knew my compliance would be rewarded. For Jemma, anyway. Maybe. If they'd keep their promise, if she could escape, _if...if...if._ The variables I hate: the variable of life or death. I moved away from Jemma, and she grabbed for me, clinging to my torso, crying. The Inhuman dragged her away. I gave her a long look before dropping into the portal.

 _ **JEMMA SIMMONS**_

My scream was more that of an injured animal, a low wail. I'd just gotten back and now Fitz was gone and that _thing_ would find him! I tried to lunge away, to go after him. That bloody man - I don't even know his name, but I wish him one of Rosalind's test subjects - held me in an iron grip. A projectile shattered the window above me, but I hardly noticed. For after the projectile disappeared into that trembling, dark liquid, the portal burst. Shards of the rock flew everywhere, and nothing was left. The last five remnants of the artifact were gone. There were no other ways to open up another portal, at least none that Fitz had discovered. All I could do was scream his name 'til my throat was raw. Then I felt the Inhuman pulling me away. Two, no three, no _all_ of the HYDRA agents left in the room were dragging me away.  
 _Are you, are you  
Coming to the tree  
Where I told you to run  
So we'd both be free  
Strange things did happen here  
No stranger would it be  
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree  
_I somehow managed to rip, bite, and pry my way out of their grasp. I grabbed one man's gun and ran blindly, plowing into walls. I didn't know where to run, so I just...did. I hardly felt the gun being yanked from my hand from that Inhuman. I didn't come to my senses until I was cornered and thrown into a wall.  
"His compliance would be rewarded, Ms. Simmons, if-"  
"No!" I shrieked. "No! You're killers! You killed him! Don't you see that? The rocks shattered. There's no other way to get a portal. You killed your only chance to find a solution, if there is one! You're murderers! And even if they didn't shatter, that _thing_ will kill him - kill all of them! All your silly agents - stupid Ward, even - they're as good as dead! Don't you see?" A cold rage settled over me, the kind that makes someone turn into a person like Ward. A deadness inside that cannot be cured. A desolation that...perhaps, the only satisfaction could come from murdering. I was allowed to slip to the floor on my knees as someone released their grip on me. I stared at their immaculate boots.  
One of the agents before me realized I had a point. "But you'll be coming with us to research for more ways to open up a portal. We're low on numbers and we just sent most of our team-"  
"No, I won't." I finally looked up at them. I didn't feel a pinch of regret as I promised, "And even if I would, I swear to every Asgardian deity that you'd all be dead by then."  
 _Are you, are you  
Coming to the tree  
Wear a necklace of rope  
Side by side with me  
Strange things did happen here  
No stranger would it be  
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.  
_My forehead was met with a bullet.


End file.
